theJourney

I had an epiphany last night. I was reading about the father of Video Journalism, Michael Rosenblum stumbled across the following on one of his websites.

“Five hundred years ago, Johannes Gutenberg and his movable type changed the world. The revolution that the printing press brought on the world was not about cheaper bibles, it was about giving anyone with an idea the ability to publish. This was the beginning of a free press.

Today we live in a world of television, and television is anything but a free press. Small digital video cameras are the Gutenberg’s printing presses of the 21st century. they make it possible for anyone with an idea to publish, in video. This is a revolution, a revolution that is going to change the world as much as Gutenberg’s printing press did a half millennium ago. But it is happening today…”

Back in 1999, I thought that most of the emerging venues to tell stories would be on the web and would probably be told using video, but to be honest, I had no idea how big of a revolution I was stepping into. The bottom line is that print is in decline, fuel prices and shifting ad revenue will only accelerate this decline. The time is now, learn, adopt new ways of telling stories visually, or be left behind.

After a few months on and off working on a film to help communicate the message of Hugh Halter and Matt Smay’s new book, The Tangible Kingdom, I’m very proud and excited to reveal the results. Please take a few minutes to ponder the message, check out tangiblekingdom.com pass it around, link to it, embed it, and enjoy it!- andy

ps, if you need to know how to embed video into your wordpress site, just turn off the wysiwyg editor, paste it in, post it, then turn it back on for next time- - andy

I think the numbers speak for themselves..

Revver Direkt5 years in Iraq

Okay, so my friend Jen got me hooked on a new song.. It’s called “Bullet and a Target,” by Citizen Cope. A line in their lyrics just grabs me after listening a few times. I’m not sure about the rest of the lyrics and what they mean, the concept of putting one’s self in between a bullet and a target just strikes me.. Its reminds me of the the story of Jesus and the woman accused of adultery.

Basically all these people who were sinners like you and me were accusing this woman of adultery and saying that she should be stoned to death because of her sin. Jesus saw it the same way, but decided to act diffently.. Jesus decide to put himself between the woman and her accusers.. ie.. Jesus put him self between the old school bullet.. ie.. rocks and the woman.. It’s a great story of what forgiveness is really about .. you can read the story here. .

So, I’ve been filming down in New Orleans for the past few days. I’ve seen a lot and talked to quite a few people, ranging from a self proclaimed “white Louis Armstrong,” hanging in a local pub, to numerous people who lost their homes and are waiting for help. In a city where very few things are certain, I feel its pretty safe to say that no one is counting on the government to do anything. FEMA is the new four letter word around here. The church, which is usually dissed in most cities by everybody except church goers is actually has a half way decent reputation down here. One organization has clocked over 230,000 man hours put in by Christians to go down and gut houses of their moldy drywall and help people start over. You see, churches across the US have strapped on their boots, flown down and put in anywhere from a few days, to two weeks on average to help the city recover physically. So, props to the church! But (yes, there is a but!) at the same time, most churches are only skimming the surface, doing physical labor and are not investing long term to develop the leaders the church needs in the south as they face a leadership vacuum. The city needs more people willing to not just come down and put a short term band-aid on the situation, but Godly leaders from all sectors to come here and invest their lives into the community. I’m proud to say that I personally know five people with CRM who have chosen to sacrifice their current places of relative safety and come on down to New Orleans to tithe their lives to the rebuilding efforts 24/7/365.

Okay, now that I’ve made my soap box, I’ll end on a good note. While interviewing common folks down on Bourbon Street with CRM Staffer, Beth Kahn. We were interviewing a Muslim taxi driver from Jordan and well, he described something which in this day and age, is just darn rare! He said that after Katrina he and his family had no where to live. He could not find any hotels to stay at, but two churches came to his rescue. Two churches lived out their faith across usually strained religious lines. He told me his family lived inside the church for two months. He told me that the churches actually lived out their faith as Christians and blessed him unconditionally. They did not try to shove the gospel down his throat or treat him like an outsider because of his opposing faith. And well, ladies and gentlemen, that’s down downright cool! I just wish more followers of Christ would do the same and show the unconditional love that Christ gave us all.

okay, its late, so good night, or should I say, good morning from the Big Easy!
- andy

So, I love to buy books. I’m like a recovering alcoholic in a book store. Often I leave my wallet in my car when I’m at a book store. and yet, the irony of this is that I rarely read. What gives. oh yea, my cell phone, instant message, email, the web, and sleep. so, I’ve been thinking about how I can begin to recover my life, my time and everything else that I want but don’t do. So, anyway, while I’d love to be reading Death by Suburb. I’ll have to put it on my waiting list. I have a few others i’m reading at the moment.. like Spiritual Leadership by Sanders or, Choose Life, by Bill Hull. I’m also going to Soliton next week and hope to read some of these two books before hand: Practitoners and The Irrestible Revolution. (look close on the cover of Practitioners and you will see my name! yea, thats right, I’m famous!
Okay, enough for now. time to get back to work and read some more!

It’s really early in the morning and I’m editing again. I don’t know what it is about night, but it’s when my creative juices flow. And so, I’m flying through lots of footage looking for the right shot of a pastor during a service in Nairobi, Kenya. I think the same old grandma who made the flannel banner to hang in the church has a lot of frequent flier miles, cause she’s been to this church too.

While the church has services in both Swahili and English, the banners are only in English. Anyway, so one of these banners says, “Go and Tell.” I suppose it is from the old song, “Go and tell it on the Mountain.” Turns out that while its an American import, its not as bad as it sounds. It was written by an African-American named John W. Work, Jr. in 1907.

So that brings me to a conversation I had with my friend Jen tonight. We talked about missions and I asked her what that meant to her. She talked about going somewhere abroad for a few weeks. Hey, I can’t blame her, that’s what just about everybody thinks in the U.S. Its what we are taught, missions are in someone else’s back yard. Well, folks, I’ve got good news. It ranks just behind the last line in the chorus. We don’t have to go anywhere to tell anything. In fact, I’ve got a pretty good view of the mountains from my living room. So why not tell the story here, in Highlands Ranch, white middle class suburb that it is? And friends, don’t worry, I’m not planning on getting a bull horn or anything. I think just being a neighbor will suffice. So long as I love my neighbor as myself anyway. And for those of you who don’t have a view of the mountains, maybe you could love your neighbor by taking them up the mountain for a day, on a hike, snowboarding, or just for a good beer up in Estes Park. Heck, there were lots of times last winter when I wanted to go snowboarding, but didn’t want to go alone. I sure wish a neighbor would have thought of that. I’m sure I’ll find plenty of neighbors that are in the same boat this winter! And then, maybe as we got to know each other, and shared the good, bad and the ugly in our lives, His story would be told.. On the chairlift while in the midst of some of the most beautiful mountains in the world.

And maybe this all makes sense why there are so many missionaries abroad that are from flat areas of the country like Texas and Oklahoma and the rest of the bible belt. They don’t have any mountains near by.

Go, tell it on the mountain,
Over the hills and everywhere
Go, tell it on the mountain,
That Jesus Christ is born.

okay, step down from the soapbox.. Thank you very much good night!

So, its been just shy of a year since I’ve posted anything on here. Go figure. I guess that’s what happens when one gets busy in life. So, let me catch you up to speed. Since posting last time, a lot has changed. I’ve gone to Prague, moved to Denver (Highlands Ranch), did a whirlwind journey in Eastern Europe in November, cruised out to Phoenix a few more times, met my new nephew Kayden, check off one of the seven wonders of the world (the Giza Pyramids in Egypt), and officially retired my current passport, with stamps from Amsterdam, Egypt, Lebanon, and Kenya. CRM’s new website will roll out in 4 days, and next week I’ll get to see the other fruit of all of this travel. CRM’s releasing a 25 year anniversary book chocked full of images that Peter and I have shot over the last few years.

In the middle of all of that, I Shannon and I also broke up. We tried to make it work, but we just could not make it happen. So, we decided that because we loved each other we would rather see each other happy and with a person more compatible than together frustrated a little more often than both of us liked.

So, as you can see, I’m ready for a little bit of time to settle in my new apt, enjoy my bbq, friends, neighbors and the beauty of Colorado. But first, I’m off to Santa Barbara for a week at CRM’s every four year World Wide Conference, and then Kauai to shoot a wedding. Yea, life is rough. And sometimes it actually is. I know you won’t believe me, but its not all glamor. Going to bed at 2 and getting up at 5 to shoot sunrise when dinner the next night is at 10 pm can be painful. Especially when you head hits the table and you just sleep cause you are jet lagged out of your mind. but at the end of the day, or at least the trip its all worth it.

Preparing for the conference over the last month has been one of the hardest months in my life. I’ll take filming in Beirut over editing any day. But the reaction from staff, and the opportuniteis to tell stories that need to be told is all worth it. Come Tuesday night, we will finally have a home for these stories. Tuesday evening, the website goes live.

Anyway, life is good. Its kind of like starting over. The good news is that I’ve never felt more at home, or had a stronger sense that I’m in the right place doing the right thing. Pix of my recent journeys to come, maybe in another year, or you could just e-mail me.

much love- andy

To fight fear, act. To increase fear—wait, put off, postpone.

David J. Schwartz

Note to self, Just Do It!